Journalist Laura attended the British Fashion Award’s last week, and sneaked a photo of Cheryl, 31, while they were using the bathroom at the same time.
She uploaded the image to Instagram, with the caption: “Sadness in her eyes.” But what Laura insists she failed to notice was the reflection of the light, which some publications instantly reported as ‘white powder’.
Writing in the Standard, Laura admitted she instantly felt bad for invading Cheryl’s privacy and swiftly removed the picture – but not before the barrage of abuse from the X Factor’s judge’s ‘soldiers’ began.
She said: “While this was upsetting, it was nowhere near as upsetting as the experience of being trolled, viciously, on Twitter, by an army of Cheryl fans who genuinely thought I had sold my picture in a bid to frame their idol as some sort of drug user.”
Laura insisted that was never her intention, and claimed she instantly signed the rights of the photo over to Cheryl in a bid to stop it from circulating further.
Laura concluded: “For my part I will never take a photo in a toilet, under a halogen light or near a glass shelf ever again. The moral of the tale is this: be careful what you put on social media, for it is public and it will never die. Only your soul will die, trampled by the hatred of other people’s fury.”
After the picture appeared online, Cheryl’s team immediately issued a statement stressing her disapproval of drugs.
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